Guru
Tegh Bahadur Sahib was the 9th Sikh
Guru. He was the youngest son of the 6thGuru, Guru Hargobind Sahib. He was
born to Mata Nanaki Ji in April 1621 AD in the town of Guru ka Mahal (Now
known as Amritsar). He was named Tiag Mall. He received training in various
aspects covering religious education, music, sword/archery & horse riding
skills under the supervision of his father, Baba Buddha Ji and Bhai Gurdas Ji.
He was married at the age of 11 to Gujri Ji, daughter of Sri Lal Chand's at
Kartar Pur.

Tiag
Mall was courageous. At the age of thirteen, He joined his father 6th
Guru, Guru Hargobind Sahib to fight a battle in Kartarpur against the Mogul
ruler, Shahjahan. His bravery and skilful use of sword (tegh) in the battle
impressed his father who changed his name from Tiag Mall to Tegh
Bahadur (which meant the 'Master of the sword or Bold with the sword').
After the 4th and the last battle, Guru Hargobind Sahib moved to
Kiratpur town and organised the Sikhs to spread the message of “Fatherhood
of one Lord” as initiated by Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

Guru Hargobind Sahib sent Tegh Bahadur
Sahib along with the family to village Bakala. Tegh Bahadur Sahib used to
spend long hours in devotional meditation of almighty Waheguru. It is
mentioned in the history that Guru Hargobind Sahib had given a hint to the
close by Sikhs & family that Tegh Bahadur Sahib was going to give a
supreme sacrifice and He was the only “Bahadur” (Bold & daring) who could
endure the Tegh (sword) to stand-up for the freedom of faith. Guru
Hargobind Sahib, the 6th guru, left for heavenly abode in March
1644 after nominating his grandson Har Rai Sahib (son of Baba Gurdita Ji) as
the 7th Guru.Subsequently,
Guru Har Rai Sahib passed on the Guruship to His youngest son Guru Har Krishan
Sahib when he was just over 4 years old. Guru Har Krishan Sahib was the
youngest of all the Gurus and before His demise at the age of 8, He uttered
the words "Baba Bakala" in order to indicate that the next Guru
lived in Bakala village. The word “Baba” was used as a mark of respect
since Tegh Bahadur Sahib was His grandfather’s brother.

Upon hearing this, 22
opportunists including Dhir Mal (Guru Har Rai Sahib's elder brother) set up
their camps in Bakala claiming to be the 9th guru. The Sikhs were
confused and could not ascertain who the true guru amongst the 22 was.
Incidentally, a devout Sikh trader, named Makan Shah Lubana found his ship
caught in a violent storm at sea. Totally unaware of the acting Guru in
succession to Guru Nanak Dev Sahib, he prayed for rescue of his trouble bound
ship and wished to make offering of 500 gold coins to the Guru.

His
ship was saved. Now, he was very eager to meet the Guru. But when he visited
the village Bakala, he was confused to see 22 Gurus. He decided to put the
imposters to a test. He offered two gold coins to each of them and none of
them asked for the remaining 498 gold coins.

Makhan Shah was very disappointed and
finally, he decided to make another attempt. Upon enquiring, someone pointed
him to the house where Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib lived. Makhan Shah had to seek
permission from Mata Gujri Ji (Guru Sahib’s wife) to see Guru Sahib. When he
entered the room, Guru Sahib was in deep meditation. Makhan Shah bowed and
placed two gold coins in front of Guru Sahib and turned around to leave. Guru
Tegh Bahadur Sahib slowly opened His eyes and said, "Where are the
remaining 498 gold coins you promised when your ship was sinking". Makhan
Shah was overjoyed to have found the true guru. He could not contain his
excitement to himself. He placed all the gold coins in front of Guru Sahib and
climbed the roof and shouted in excitement "Gur Lado Re ... Gur Lado Re
... that meant that "I have found the Guru". All the Sikhs gathered
around the house and felt overjoyed & relieved.

Guru Tegh
Bahadur Sahib took on His duties as the ninth Guru in March 1665, and started
preaching the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Sahib. Sikhs, from far and near,
came to pay their respect and offerings to Guru Sahib. It is believed that
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib had already met Guru Har Krishan Sahib in Delhi where
necessary proceedings for the succession had been formalised.

Dhir Mal,
one of the self-styled Guru, felt very jealous and made an attempt to kill
Guru Sahib in vain. Then, he sent a group of people and robed Guru’s
property. Makhan Shah & the Sikhs recovered it back from Dhir Mal along
with his belongings & original copy of Guru Granth Sahib as composed by
Guru Arjan Dev Sahib. But, kind Guru Sahib asked everything that belonged to
Dhir Mal to be returned to him. Guru Sahib left Bakala and moved to Kiratpur.
He bought land in the nearby hilly area & founded a township in 1665 and
named it“Chak Mata Nanaki” after His mother “Mata Nanaki”
(“chak” means “a city”). Later, it became popular as Anandpur i.e.
“Town Of bliss” where Guru Gobind Singh Sahib founded the Khalsa on the
day of Vaisakhi in April 1699.

After
founding the new city, Guru Sahib did not stay there for very long. However,
He entrusted the construction work to His trustworthy Sikhs. Guru Sahib along
with His family undertook the missionary tour of the east India in response to
the invitation of His Sikhs from that region. Guru Sahib left His family in
the town of Patna as Mata Gujri Ji was expecting a child. While Guru Sahib was
at Dacca, He received good news of birth of His son on December 22nd, 1666 at
Patna. The child was named "Gobind
Rai".
Guru
Sahib returned to Patna to join the family. After spending a few years in
Patna, all family returned to Anandpur Sahib.

Aurangzeb
ascended the throne of India by imprisoning his father and murdering his
brothers. After resuming the power, he considered it to be his religious duty
to convert all the people of India to Islam. He issued special orders
in April 1669 to all his governors and officers throughout India to force the conversion to Islam by use of all possible, fair or unfair
means. Non‑Muslims were not given jobs and additional taxes were
imposed on them. Many temples were destroyed and were replaced by the mosques.
Torture & killing were resorted to for conversion to Islam. Even
the Muslims, who in any way assisted the non-Muslims, were mercilessly put to
death. Conversion process started from Kashmir & other parts of India
those were the strong holds for the Hindu faith. Idea was to convert the
leaders first and then rest of the followers would have converted by
themselves.

Hit badly by
the extreme agony, the Hindu Brahmins (pundits) from Kashmir prayed to their
gods and goddesses in vain. They tried all the help from elsewhere but all
failed. They had heard about the glory of Guru Nanak Dev Sahib’s faith
and the reputation of helping the needy irrespective of their faith, caste
& background. They had also heard about the fresh incident how Guru had
saved His Sikh’s sinking ship. Kashmiri
Brahmins decided to meet the acting Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, 9th
in succession.A group of these
brahmins approached Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib at Anandpur Sahib to make a plea
to rescue their faith. Guru Sahib listened to them and was in deep thoughts
when His 8 year old son, Gobind Rai, walked in and asked about the reason for
His sadness. Guru Sahib told him about the endless
misery of the Kashmiri Brahmins & other non-muslims.

Gobind Rai asked, "How could this intolerance be put to an end, Pita Ji
(father)?".

Guru Sahib replied that it would require a sacrifice of life from
a noble person. Gobind Rai
immediately replied to his father, "who could be more noble than you for
the supreme sacrifice?" Guru Sahib was pleased to hear such words
of courage from His son. He immediately made up His mind, and told the
Kashmiri Pundits to tell Aurangzeb, that if he could convert Guru Sahib to
Islam, they would all convert as well.

When Aurangzeb received the message
through his Governor, he immediately issued orders for the arrest of Guru Tegh
Bahadur Sahib and that the Guru Sahib should be presented in his court at
Delhi. After long & unsuccessful dialogue to persuade Guru Sahib to accept
Islam, Guru Sahib had to accept one of the following three conditions:

1) Accept Islam and you would be
given part of the Empire & all the comforts of lifeOR

2) Show miracle to prove that you are
a Divine person & then you would be released OR

3) Be prepared to face death

Guru
Sahib replied

1)I cherish my faith and I am not prepared to give it up. Forcing
someone to give up one's faith is not only a sin but rather a deadly sin and
such interference is against the principles of a true religion.

2)Showing
miracle is against the Will of Waheguru and is act of shame & cowardness.
Real miracle is to be truthful & attain union with Waheguru.

3)The threat of physical death possesses no
terror for me. You make your preparations and you shall see the miracle
yourself.

Aurangzeb now resorted to forceful
persuasions. Guru Sahib was kept in chains and imprisoned in an iron cage .
Iron cage was specially made to torture Guru Sahib as it was shorter than Guru
Sahib's height and had sharp spikes pointing inwards so that Guru Sahib could
neither stand upright nor lean against the walls of the cage. Guru Sahib
remained in the cage for 3 days. The Emperor's ministers tried their best to
persuade him to accept Islam but Guru Sahib remained firm.

In front of
Him, three of His disciples were cruelly put to death.

Bhai Mati
Das was tied up between two wooden blocks and sawed into half . Bhai Dayal Das
was boiled to death in a large vessel . Bhai Satti Das (Bhai

Mati Das’s
brother) was wrapped up in cotton and doused with kerosene and set alight .
All the three disciples died with the Name of God on their lips and their eyes
fixed on their Guru. All this was done to frighten Guru Sahib but He was calm
as ever.

Having
failed through all the possible means, orders were issued for the execution of
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib in the Chandni Chowk in Delhi (near Red Fort) on 11th
November 1675 AD.

Guru
Sahib was allowed to perform His last prayers. After having bath at the nearby
well, He recited Jap Ji Sahib Hymns under a large tree, the appointed place
for execution. Guru Sahib asked the
executioner, “Jalal-ul-din” perform the execution task when He
would bow His head to the Almighty Waheguru after completion of the Jap Ji
Sahib recitation. The great Guru Sahib sacrificed His life to bring
freedom to practice faith of one’s own choice. At
this site, Gurdwara
“Sis Ganj”stands today marking the supreme martyrdom. The tree trunk is
still preserved within the premises of the Gurdwara.

There
was a tight security so that no one could come near the body. It is believed
that before meeting with Aurangzeb, Guru Sahib had planned removal of His body
with His close Sikhs. History
has recorded that a furious storm raged immediately after the brutal
assassination, which filled every one's eyes with dust.
The clouds darkened the sky. Under the cover of darkness, Bhai Jaita rushed
out with the head of Guru Sahib and went straight to Anandpur Sahib whilst
making stops on the way at houses of the Sikhs appointed by Guru Sahib. The
young Guru Gobind Singh Sahib performed the last rites of Guru Sahib’s head.
At the place of cremation stands the Gurdwara “Sis Ganj” in Anandpur
Sahib. Another Sikh, Lakhi Shah, retrieved Guru Sahib’s body. He carried it
in his cart to his house located 2-3 miles away from the execution site. He
and his sons put the body inside a room and performed the cremation by setting
fire to their house. Gurdwara
Rakab Ganjstands
on the site in Delhi.Guru was
supreme & great were Guru’s Sikhs

Guru
Tegh Bahadur Sahib was an embodiment of sheer courage and bravery. The
martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib is unique in the history of the World.
The history of the world is full of
martyrs, but they died for the defence of their own cause or their faith. But
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib sacrificed His life not for His
own faith, but for the defence of the oppressed humanity and for freedom to
practice one’s own faith. That is why Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib is regarded as
“DHARAM DI CHAADAR” literally implying “Protector sheet (shield) for the
faith” which means that He saved honour of the faith under threat like an
intact sheet saves the dishonoured honour of a person with soiled or no
clothes. Guru Gobind Singh Sahib describes Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib’s
sacrifice in the Bachitar Natak through the following poetry:

"Having
broken His body vessel on the head of the king of Delhi, Guru Tegh Bahadur
Sahib departed for Waheguru’s Home (Sach-khand); No one else in the world
has performed such deed like Tegh Bahadur Sahib. Whilst the world was mourning
the departure of Tegh Bahadur Sahib; There was rejoicing in Waheguru’s Home
(as the seed to uproot the evil had been sown)."

It may be
noted that within few years the mogul empire was uprooted from India.

Real way of paying tributes to the
great Guru is to act upon His message to exercise tolerance for the people
from all the faiths. Perform worship of One Waheguru and practice brotherhood
of all. Stand up to protect & help the needy. Guru Sahib’s main
messages, as recorded in Guru Granth Sahib, page 1427, are:

If
you do not sing the praises of the Lord, your life shall be rendered useless.
Says Nanak, meditate upon the Lord; immerse your mind in the Lord, like fish
always remains immersed in the water to survive.|| 1 ||

Your
wealth, spouse, and all the possessions, which you claim as your own — none
of these shall go along with you in the end. O Nanak, know this as the true
fact.|| 5 ||

Q1: The
Gurus possessed spiritual powers, why did not Guru
Tegh Bahadur Sahib use those powers to avoid the assassination & stop
Aurangzeb from committing the cruel deed?

A: Guru Sahib only knows the real
answer but a trivial attempt is made to answer the question in the light of
Gurbani as follows :

Use
of spiritual powers is prohibited in Sikhism as these distract one from the
true path of achieving union with Waheguru, which is the true objective of
human life. Also, the miracles interfere with the Will of Waheguru and that is
a deadly sin which deprives one from obtaining favourable glance (blessing) of
Waheguru.

There were many
instances, when the Gurus performed such deeds which seemed like miracles to
the ordinary human beings, but the Gurus performed such actions spontaneously
when they felt compassionate or merciful. Sometimes, such extra ordinary acts
were performed in order to put ignorant people back on the spiritual or true
path. But motive behind such extra ordinary deeds was
not to earn fame or cause harm to anyone or for a financial gain. Some incidents are given below:

1)Bhai Mardana, born in a Muslim family, accompanied Guru Nanak Dev Sahib
on the four major missionary journeys. Once, he was so hungry that Guru Sahib,
out of sympathy, turned the poisonous soap nuts (reetthas) into a sweet fruit.
This tree still bears sweet fruit on the side where Bhai Mardana plucked
reetthas from and rest of the tree still grow bitter reetthas. Gurdwara
“Reetthas Sahib” stands in the town of Banaras in East India. Examining
the incident carefully, it sounds like a miracle but Guru Sahib felt merciful
for His companion and could not see him suffer.

2)Koda Raakhash, a cannibal, was about to deep fry Bhai Mardana in
the boiling oil pan, but Guru Nanak Dev Sahib removed the heat from the fire
flame so that the oil would never become hot. Again, the objective was to show
Koda Raakhash the true path. Guru Sahib intentionally passed through the
region where Koda Raakhash and his gang used to eat human beings. Koda
Raakhash, later was blessed by Guru Nanak Dev Sahib and Guru Sahib delegated
him with sewa (service) to serve the humanity. Later, Koda organised many
spiritual & charitable units.

3)3rd Guru, Guru Amardas Sahib, revived a boy when He felt sympathetic by
seeing the mother in agony & depressed state. This incidence moved Guru
Sahib so much that he said the word “No mother should loose her child in
Goindwal (the town founded by Guru Sahib) during my life time. And these words
came true in that no child died whilst mother was still alive.

Now,
question is that why did Guru Tegh
Bahadur Sahib not use spiritual powers to save His life & stop
Aurangzeb from committing cruelty on the helpless people.

Mr
Emerson, a European historian, spent numerous time contemplating over of Guru
Sahib’s statement that “The
threat of physical death possesses no terror for me. You prepare yourself for
the task and you will see the miracle for yourself”. He visited Gurdwara “Sis-ganj” in Delhi to get the answer to his
question himself. He captured the results of his personal experience in his
book as follows:

“SELF
SACRIFICE IS THE REAL MIRACLE OUT OF WHICH ALL OTHER MIRACLES GROW”.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib's sacrifice
was a miracle in itself, which further brought about miracles:

1)Body of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib
was whisked away from such a tight security and the Sikhs were never caught.

2)It sowed the seed of KHALSA PANTH (God's own religion), which came to
fruition on the day of Vaisakhi in April 1699 when Guru Gobind Singh Sahib publicly
founded the “Khalsa Panth”. It is reminded that Aurangzeb wished to have
just one Faith in India but one more was established.

3)Guru Granth Sahib was revealed to the world in 1708 when Guru Gobind
Singh Sahib publicly announced it as the Shabad Guru for Sikhs. Guru
Sahib’s message was not to follow the human beings rather practice “The
Word” to reach the formless Lord Waheguru.

4)The sacrifice shook the foundations of Mogul Empire. Guru Gobind Singh
Sahib won all the battles against the tyrant emperor and remained victorious.
Finally, Guru Sahibwrote a
“message of victory” (“Zafar-Nama”) to Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb, after
reading it, repented for his foolish deeds and asked his governor to treat
Guru Sahib respectfully as He was the Divine Person. He invited Guru Sahib for
conciliation but he died before the meeting.

Soon after Aurangzeb’s death, his son, Bahadur Shah, was helped by Guru
Gobind Singh Sahib in order to regain the kingdom. After victory, he offered
Guru Gobind Singh Sahib to seat on the throne of Delhi, Guru Sahib refused the
offer & replied that worldly kingdom did not interest Him. He remained a
very close friend of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. After Bahadur Shah’s death,
the Mogul empire diminished from India.

Some
of the Hymns from Guru Granth Sahib are quoted below which clearly forbid use
of spiritual powers :

Guru Nanak Dev Sahib gave this advice
to a group of Sidhs (persons with spiritual powers) that acquiring and mis-using
the wealth and miraculous spiritual powers shall take one away from the real
goal of human life i.e. to re-unite with Lord Waheguru.If one wants to meet with Waheguru then one should make the Divine
wisdom as the food for soul and the compassion the storekeeper (i.e.
mercifully spread the wisdom to other for the benefit of the humanity without any desire for reward). Realise that
the Naad (Divine Word) is vibrating in each and every heart & Lord is the
Supreme Master of all. Union with the Lord comes from remaining in Lord’s
Will otherwise the worldly relishes and fame results in the separation from
Waheguru. We shall receive what is written in our destiny. I humbly bow to
Waheguru who is the Primal One, the pure, without beginning and without end.
Throughout all the ages, the Lord shall remain true.|| 29 || (Part 6/7)

Also
Guru Gobind Singh Sahib has described in the Bachitar Natak scripture that the
devotees of the Lord shy away from the demonstration of the miraculous
spiritual powers as it is sinful & an act of cowardness. The
wording is “Naatak Chetak kiye kukaajaa,
Prabh logan ke aavat laajaaa”

Q2: Why did Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib sacrificed His own life to save the people
belonging to the Hindu faith that He himself, including all other Sikh Gurus,
disapproved it.

A:The 1st Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Sahib, was born in a
Hindu family. He disapproved the Hindu faith by refusing to wear the sacred
thread (junjhoo) at a very young age as it carried no spiritual value or
served no real purpose. The successor Gurus preached Guru Nanak Dev Sahib’s
principles.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, 9th
Guru in succession, was
approached by the Hindus whose faith was in serious trouble. Guru Sahib did
not turn them down rather agreed to help them as Sikhism promoted “Fatherhood
of One Waheguru & love for Waheguru’s creation”.
A needy had to be helped irrespective of faith, creed & colour. Guru Sahib
in no way agreed with the principles of the Hindu faith rather gave the
supreme sacrifice in order to provide freedom of faith of one’s own choice.